CND condemns UK air strikes in Syria

By agency reporter

July 17, 2015

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has condemned UK air strikes in Syria. These strikes have been carried out despite the House of Commons vote in August 2013 against extending such action by a majority of 13. (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21903).

While David Cameron and Michael Fallon have both expressed support for extending the scope of the current mission, no parliamentary mandate has been sought. Fallon recently confirmed that the Government “will need to return to Parliament for approval if we propose to undertake air strikes against ISIL in Syria”.

John Baron, one of the few Conservative MPs to vote against the 2003 Iraq war and action in Syria, told the Today programme: “Let’s be absolutely clear about this. We voted in 2013, when parliament had been recalled from recess, that there should be no British military intervention in Syria. We were told that No 10 had got the message and that any future intervention would be subject to a vote. What this does show is at the very minimum an insensitivity to parliament’s will.”

CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said: "The Ministry of Defence claims that British troops who are embedded with foreign forces operate as if they were troops of those countries, but this is just anti-democratic doublespeak. These are British soldiers taking part in an operation which MPs voted against.

"It shows a shocking disregard for the will of Parliament that consent was not sought before these raids took place. Ministers need to realise that dropping bombs from 30,000 feet will do nothing to solve the problems in Syria and Iraq."

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